Cow parlor safety adjustment

ABSTRACT

A device for restraining a stalled cow from kicking, being an improvement upon the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 3,451,377 and consisting primarily in the provision on the swing bar of a bracket adjustable longitudinally on the swing bar and formed with a plurality of longitudinally-spaced sets adapted selectively to receive a rail of the stall to hold the swing bar against longitudinal movement relative to the rail.

United States Patent 1191 Hart 1 COW PARLOR SAFETY ADJUSTMENT [75] inventor: Don Rex Hart, Worthington, 1nd, I

[73] Assignee: Harpad Ind.

[22] Filed: Mar. 1, 1972 [21] App]. No.: 230,742

Company, Worthington,

52 us. 131 ..119/96 51 Int. Cl ..A01j 7/00 58 Field of Search ..1 19/96, 16, 27

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS I 3,266,463 8/1966 Han et al. ..119/96 1 51 Apr. 17, 1973 3,451,377 6/1969 Hart et al. l l9/96 Primary Examiner-Louis G. Mancene Assistant Examiner fil. N. Eskovirtz Attorney-Harold B. Hood et al.

[ ABSTRACT A device for restraining a stalled cow from kicking, being an improvement upon the disclosure of US. Pat. No. 3,451,377 and consisting primarily in the provi sion on the swing bar of a bracket adjustable longitudinally on the swing bar and formed with a plurality of longitudinally-spaced sets adapted selectively to receive a rail of the stall to hold the swing bar against longitudinal movement relative to the rail.

2 Claim, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTEDAPR 1 11913 53; 7'27. 585

Mr. V r 3 COW PARLOR SAFETY ADJUSTh/[ENT While the invention disclosed and claimed in US. Pat. No. 3,451,377 has been widely accepted and highly successful in use, it has been found to be somewhat inconvenient for use with herringbone stalls; and the primary object of the present invention is to provide an improvement which contributes to the convenience of installation and to the efficacy in use of a restraining device of the general character of that disclosed in said US. Pat. No. 3,451,377.

More particularly, the present invention has for its primary object the provision of means cooperative with a stall rail for affirmatively retaining the restraining device, and particularly the swing bar thereof, against substantially vertical movement thereof during use, while providing for adjustability to accommodate the device for use with cows of different heights.

Further objects of the invention will appear as the description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the above and related objects, my invention may be embodied in the form illustrated in the accompanying drawings, attention being called to the fact, however, that the drawings are illustrative only, and that change may be made in the specific construction illustrated and described, so long as the scope of the appended claims is not violated.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary side elevation showing an embodiment of the present invention applied to a'cow in a herringbone stall; a

FIG. 2 is a somewhat enlarged section taken substantially on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a similarly enlarged section taken substantially on the line 3-3 of HO. 1.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the reference numeral generally indicates a fragment of a herringbone stall including a substantially vertical post 11, an upper rail 12 and a lower rail 13. Like that disclosed in US. Pat. No. 3,451,377, the restraining device of the present invention is adapted to be mounted uponthe stall in such a manner as to press against the flank of a cow in the stall and to have a retaining engagement with the near rear leg of the cow substantially at the stifle joint region 14 thereof.

The device comprises a major bar 15 provided, near its rear end, with a transverse rest bar 16 adapted to rest upon the upper rail 12 of the stall. A chain or cable 17 has its lower end removably secured to the lower rail 13 of the stall, while a chain or cable 18 has its upper end suitably secured to the outer end 19 of the rest bar 16, a length shortening device 20, which may be of the character illustrated in said US. Pat. No. 3,451,377, being connected between the adjacent ends of the chains 17 and 18. A coiled spring 21 is connected between the inner end 22 of the rest bar 16 and the lower rail 13 of the stall as is most clearly to be seen in FIG. 2. v

A U-shaped bracket 23 fixed to the forward end of the major'bar 15 is penetrated by, and limits the movement of, the upper end 24 of a swing bar 25 which is mounted, by means of a pivot pin 26, to swing in the plane common to the bar 15 and the bar 25. The lower end 27 of the swing bar carries a D-ring 28 which is proportioned, designed and located to embrace the stifle joint re "on 14.

code spring 29 has one end secured to anchor means 30 on the swing bar and has its other end wrapped around the rail 12 and the rear end of the bar 15 as at 31, while a tether chain 32 is secured to the anchor means 30 and wrapped around the rail 12.

A bracket 33 is secured to the swing bar 25 near the upper end thereof by means of a pair of U-bolts 34 whereby said bracket may be selectively positioned longitudinally of said swing bar. That edge of the bracket 33 which faces away from the swing bar is formed with a plurality of longitudinally-spaced, substantially semi-circular seats 35, 36 and 37, each proportioned and designed retentively to receive a portion of the stall rail 12. The parts are so proportioned and designed that, when the seat 35 receives the rail 12, the D-ring 28 will be properly positioned to receive the stifle joint of a cow of average size. Obviously, if a somewhat runty cow is stalled, the seat 35 will be engaged with the rail 12 to lower the position of the D ring 28; or if an unusually tall cow is stalled, the seat 37 will be arranged to receive the rail, thereby raising the position of the D-ring 28. While the provision of the three selectively-usable seats will be sufficient to accommodate the device to most cows, it will be apparent that, if necessary in a particular instance, the entire bracket may. be moved upwardly or downwardly along the swing bar 25 by loosening the U-bolts 34, moving the bracket along the swing bar and then retightening the U-bolts.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a restraining device including, a major bar, a rest bar transversely secured adjacent one end of said major bar to support the same from a stall rail, a swing bar pivotally secured near the other end of said major bar to depend therefrom and to swing through a limited arc in a plane common to said major bar and said swing bar, the distal region of said swing bar being positioned for reception between the flank and the stifle joint region of a cow in such a stall, flexible means tethering said swing bar to said stall rail, elastic means biasing the distal end of said swing bar toward said rest bar, elastic means for retaining said rest bar in position on said stall rail, flexible means including a length-shortening means for tightening said rest bar on said stall rail: the improvement comprising a bracket secured to said swing bar, elongated in the direction of length of said swing bar and formed with a plurality of longitudinallyspaced seats selectively engageable with a stall rail to hold said swing bar in a selected position against longitudinal movement relative to said last-named rail.

2. The device of claim 1 in which said bracket is lon' gitudinally adjustably secured to said swing bar. 

1. In a restraining device including, a major bar, a rest bar transversely secured adjacent one end of said major bar to support the same from a stall rail, a swing bar pivotally secured near the other end of said major bar to depend therefrom and to swing through a limited arc in a plane common to said major bar and said swing bar, the distal region of said swing bar being positioned for reception between the flank and the stifle joint region of a cow in such a stall, flexible means tethering said swing bar to said stall rail, elastic means biasing the distal end of said swing bar toward said rest bar, elastic means for retaining said rest bar in position on said stall rail, flexible means including a length-shortening means for tightening said rest bar on said stall rail: the improvement comprising a bracket secured to said swing bar, elongated in the direction of length of said swing bar and formed with a plurality of longitudinallyspaced seats selectively engageable with a stall rail to hold said swing bar in a selected position against longitudinal movement relative to said last-named rail.
 2. The device of claim 1 in which said bracket is longitudinally adjustably secured to said swing bar. 